May 3rd, 2016
Lost and found! Keys are malicious things. Oh what an aggravation can come from some innate machine-cut little pieces of metal. How dependent we are upon them to unlock our doors and start our cars. Mail may have to wait awhile if you can’t discover the secret hiding place of those GPS-defying, CIA- trained and camouflage experts. For me, about the only thing which can test my patience more than lost keys is the game of golf. Guess what? I like to go golfing. I make an excellent caddie. Just don’t put a club in my hand. The Bible says to make no provision for the flesh, therefore I avoid the game of golf. Maybe one day I will be spiritual enough to play the game. I think if I played best ball in a foursome it might work out ok. I may have one good shot to help the team and I would get lots of exercise as I would go where no man has gone before.
But keys are another story. You have to have them. You have to find them. So, after the second or third look and you are under a time constraint, what are you to do???? Be angry and sin not. The wrath of man does not work the righteousness of God. Remember, they are not lost; they are simply misplaced. And even if I do not know where they are, I know somebody who does. “Lord, please help me find my keys,” has calmed my spirit and saved my sanity more times than I can count. Also, I have learned some lessons about being a keeper of keys. You need to instruct yourself there are certain ‘key’ disciplines you need to enforce.
Rule # 1 Thou shalt not give your keys to another human being even your wife or kids without making the recipient recite these words “From my hand to your hand and from your hand back to mine again.”
Rule # 2 There are only two legitimate locations for keys to be when not in the ignition of a car or turning a lock: my right front trouser pocket or my desk.
Rule # 3 Refer back to rules # 1 and # 2 -no exceptions. As long as there are no exceptions, I have no problem keeping track of my keys.
But what if you lose a person? I know a man I met in jail who professed Christ four years ago. He went out west to be with his family. Weekly, I mailed him a letter and periodically we would talk on the phone. I started getting his letters back “not at this address” and his phone # no longer worked. My wife tried to help me find him online, but we did not know he had such a popular name. “O Lord, if I am to have continued contact and ministry with this man, I have no clue where to find him. If there is still some purpose to our continued relationship, then you will have to initiate it. You know where he lives and what he is doing.”
Hebrew 4:13 “Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do.”
Saturday, he called me and we had a good reunion. He told me he had been trying to live life on his terms and it was not working. He started praying again and talking to the Lord about what was going on in his life. He felt he needed to call me. I now have his new address and phone #. This experience filled my heart with joy and confidence in a prayer-hearing and answering God! He is good at finding lost stuff. I know this is true for even greater reason; he found even me.
Luke 15:10 “Likewise, I say unto you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth.”
Because He found me,
Pastor John Schofield
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